Main Street

Saturday, August 09, 2014 - Updated: 4:08 AM

Back to the Grind

Back to the grind again ... Clean forgot to tell you Main Streeters that I was going to take off a week and there seemed to be considerable misapprehension as to the naked appearance of page five ... And no wonder -- there is no telling what is going to happen to a columnist ... The first thing that greeted my eye on my return to the office this morning was a clipping from an issue of the past week telling about a N.Y. columnist getting bombed. And appended was a note from one of the office wags telling me to watch my step ... Cheerful advice on a Monday morning ... It seems good to get back at that ... This business of sifting the news to obtain the human interest by-products is the most interesting occupation that any person every got into -- in spite of its dangers ... Some enemies are made, of course, but the friends are legion ... And they are the kind of friends a fellow needs .... People who can give and take with good heart ... People with a sense of humor ... People who can see that life without a laugh isn't worth living. People who make friendship our most precious possession.

BUT THEY GOT THERE

Naturally enough, our friends act strangely at times. It is part of the human makeup. Take, for instance, the case of Bert Vedder, former Amsterdamian who is now a resident of Kitchener, Ontario. When he invited Frank Gill to visit him this Summer, Frank thought the invite was extended in all sincerity, and he decided to pass a week with Bert. Carefully following the directions given him by his Canadian friend, he turned left at the end of the Buffalo Street and found himself out near Squeedunk before some farmer stopped him from driving over Niagara Falls. Getting back on the main route again, the thought occurred to him that perhaps Bert had given him a bum steer so he wouldn't be able to accept the invitation. But he came to the more optimistic conclusion that perhaps it had been a mistake.

Finally he arrived at Kitchener and carefully followed Bert's directions as to streets. The route brought him to the outskirts of the town, where nobody had ever heard of Bert or the street he lived on. Another bum steer with a left turn, when it should have been right. But even that didn't discourage Frank. He kept on the trail and finally pulled up at Bert's door. The host seemed surprised to see the Amsterdam guests -- especially after his attempts to make them get lost.

This isn't much of a tale, I'll admit, but it has a moral -- Don't invite Amsterdam people to call on you and then try to throw them off the trail with a lot of left turns that ought to be right turns. We're a persistent bunch in accepting hospitality about this time of the year.

PLAYING DUMB

"Oooh! You got a parking ticket on your car," squealed a Railroad Street business woman to Mrs. A.J. Finlayson, as the latter was about to hop into her machine the other day.

Sure enough, there was the ticket -- parking in a restricted area. The signature of the officer was a bit blurred, but it looked like Sears.

"Why don't you go up and talk to him," advised the B.W. "Just play dumb, say you didn't know about the parking rules, and it will be all right."

And that is just what she did. The only part of the plan that made the rose fall flat is that Del Sears didn't know what she was talking about. She put on a nice act and she thought he was doing the same. But no. Stearns and Sears are names quite alike when written hurriedly.

TRAFFIC CONDITIONS IMPROVE

Traffic was heavy in this section of the valley yesterday. At least 25,000 pilgrims came to Auriesville from all parts of the State and it appeared in the early morning that a tie-up as bad as that of four years ago might spoil the day. Everything was conducted smoothly and efficiently, however, and credit goes to the State Troopers, who were keenly alert to the emergency. Ten troopers, under the direction of Lieutenant F.S. McGarvey and Sergeant Everett Updike of the Fonda sub-station, had complete control of the difficult situation at all times and the heavy traffic was moved in and out of the Shrine grounds without a bent fender.

Another notable improvement over the lamentable conditions of four years ago was the Yankee Hill road, widened by Commissioner C. Robb DeGraff under the Brumagim administration. The heavy buses traversed this steep grade throughout the day with no sign of trouble -- and what would have happened to the taxpayers of the city had one of them toppled down into the ravine before the road was improved is just too bad for consideration.

All that is needed now is that the State Department of Highways begin construction of the recently authorized connecting link between Route 5S and the Glen-Mill Point highway through Auriesville. If we are to accommodate such crowds, the valley must be provided with adequate arteries for traffic. It is no longer a matter of convenience, this is now a necessity.